Victor Lazarte

Background

Victor Lazarte is a Brazilian-American entrepreneur and investor who served as General Partner at Benchmark from August 2023 to July 2025 ¹². He departed Benchmark in July 2025 to launch VL Fund, a solo GP fund focused on early-stage AI companies ¹.

Before venture capital, Lazarte co-founded Wildlife Studios with his brother Arthur in 2010 ³⁴. He served as CEO until 2023, scaling the company from a bootstrapped startup into one of the world’s top 10 largest mobile game developers, with over 4 billion downloads and hits including Tennis Clash, Zooba, and Sniper 3D ³⁴. Wildlife Studios raised a $60 million Series A led by Benchmark in December 2019 at a $1.3 billion valuation, and later reached a $3 billion valuation in 2020 ⁵⁶.

Prior to founding Wildlife, Lazarte worked as a credit trader at JPMorgan in London for approximately one year ⁴⁷. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from USP (University of São Paulo), a double degree from École Centrale de Paris, and completed the OPM program at Harvard Business School ³⁴.

As an angel investor, Lazarte was the first investor and board member of Brex, the fintech company founded by Pedro Franceschi and Henrique Dubugras ¹⁸. He has described meeting the Brex founders when they were sixteen years old ⁹.

At Benchmark, Lazarte joined as the sixth equal partner alongside Peter Fenton, Eric Vishria, Sarah Tavel, Chetan Puttagunta, and Miles Grimshaw ⁸. During his two-year tenure, he led investments in HeyGen, Mercor, and Decart, all AI-focused companies ¹².

After departing Benchmark, Lazarte launched VL Fund, which closed approximately $200 million for its debut fund in 2025, surpassing its $180 million target and approaching its $215 million hard cap ¹⁰.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Lazarte says publicly about his approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Lazarte’s publicly stated investment philosophy centers on AI as a transformative force and on deep founder partnerships.

On AI’s impact, Lazarte has been blunt about the displacement potential: “Big companies talk about, like, ‘AI isn’t replacing people, it’s augmenting them.’ It’s bulls—t. It’s fully replacing people” ¹¹. He has predicted that lawyers and recruiters are the professions most vulnerable to AI replacement ¹¹ and has stated: “What percentage of knowledge work will exist in 10 years? I think it’s probably like 1%” ⁹.

On investment approach, Lazarte emphasizes founder quality over financial metrics. He has stated he looks for founders who are “very open-minded but very disagreeable” — meaning they listen intently but are unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom with their convictions ⁹. He borrows a technique from Yuri Milner: evaluating how founders spend their free time, noting “The choices that people make on their free time are the ones that really tell you who they are” ⁹.

Lazarte has publicly criticized traditional SaaS investing frameworks: “SaaS was a moment in time where rule-based investing worked really well… I think this is no longer true” ⁹. He argues that triple/double revenue multiples no longer apply given the experimental nature of AI revenue.

On portfolio construction, Lazarte has stated his intention to “back as few as 10 companies, writing checks of up to $40 million into core positions” at VL Fund ¹⁰, reflecting an ultra-concentrated approach.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 5 verified investments (3 at Benchmark, 1 angel investment, 1 personal investment), the sample size is too small for reliable percentage breakdowns. Qualitative patterns are described instead.

Sector focus: Every investment Lazarte led at Benchmark was an AI company: HeyGen (AI video generation), Mercor (AI-powered recruiting/data labeling), and Decart (AI infrastructure/world models) ¹². His angel investment in Brex (fintech) and personal investment in WoodSpoon (food marketplace) predate his VC career. The AI concentration is absolute during his Benchmark tenure — 3 out of 3 investments.

Stage focus: All three Benchmark investments were Series A rounds, consistent with Benchmark’s model of leading first institutional rounds ¹²¹³¹⁴. Check sizes were large: $55 million into HeyGen and $25 million into Mercor ⁹¹⁵, reflecting Benchmark’s concentrated approach.

Founder profile patterns: Lazarte’s portfolio founders skew young and technical. The Mercor founders (Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, Surya Midha) were 21-year-old Thiel Fellows who dropped out of Georgetown and Harvard ⁹¹⁵. The Brex founders were teenagers when Lazarte first met them ⁹. HeyGen founders Joshua Xu and Wayne Liang were former colleagues at Carnegie Mellon ¹⁶. Lazarte appears drawn to technically exceptional young founders building at the frontier.

Revenue velocity: A striking pattern across Lazarte’s Benchmark investments is extreme revenue growth at the time of investment. HeyGen went from $1 million to $35 million+ ARR in just over a year and was already profitable ¹². Mercor grew from $1 million to $100 million+ revenue run rate in 11 months ⁹. Despite his stated rejection of SaaS metrics, Lazarte clearly invests in companies with demonstrated explosive revenue traction.

Geographic patterns: HeyGen is based in Los Angeles (founded by Chinese-American immigrants), Mercor in San Francisco, and Decart in Israel ¹²¹⁴¹⁵. Brex was founded by Brazilians in the US. Lazarte does not appear geographically constrained, and his immigrant background may predispose him to backing immigrant founders.

Co-investor patterns: Based on limited data, prominent co-investors across Lazarte’s deals include General Catalyst, Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, Thrive Capital, and Sequoia Capital ¹³¹⁴¹⁵.

Notable gaps: Despite his gaming background as co-founder of Wildlife Studios, Lazarte made zero gaming investments during his Benchmark tenure. His stated thesis about AI replacing knowledge work aligns with his actual portfolio, which is unusual — though the sample is very small.

Note: This analysis is based on only 5 verified investments. Lazarte’s complete investment history may include additional angel investments not publicly attributed. The sample is sufficient to identify his AI focus but too small for reliable sector percentages.

Portfolio

Note: Lazarte mentioned on the 20VC podcast that he “participated in one round” of Cursor, but this could not be independently verified with a specific source and is excluded ⁹. This table represents all publicly confirmed investments. Lazarte’s complete angel portfolio likely includes additional deals not publicly disclosed.

In Their Own Words

“Big companies talk about, like, ‘AI isn’t replacing people, it’s augmenting them.’ It’s bulls—t. It’s fully replacing people.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ¹¹

“You’re going to have these trillion-dollar companies being done by very small teams.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ¹¹

“What percentage of knowledge work will exist in 10 years? I think it’s probably like 1%.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ⁹

“I like to invest in founders that they’re very open-minded but they’re very disagreeable.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ⁹

“The choices that people make on their free time are the ones that really tell you who they are.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ⁹

“SaaS was a moment in time where rule-based investing worked really well… I think this is no longer true.”

— Victor Lazarte, 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings, 2025 ⁹

“With AI, there’s a lot of promise, and there are very cool demos, but there are very few companies that are actually creating value. So, I think with HeyGen, you have a thesis that’s incredible.”

— Victor Lazarte, Fortune interview, June 2024 ¹²

“One mistake that I’ve made, that I think is common for operators-turned-investors, is that when someone pitches a company, you project a lot into it. You can do this or that thing, and get very excited about the company you’d build in that person’s place — and that’s a huge mistake.”

— Victor Lazarte, Fortune interview, June 2024 ¹²

“Joshua and I connected over the struggles of immigrant founders building a company to reach a large audience.”

— Victor Lazarte, on leading Benchmark’s investment in HeyGen, X post, June 2024 ¹⁶

“HeyGen doesn’t make spokespeople more productive, it allows businesses to create videos without a camera or a studio.”

— Victor Lazarte, X post, June 2024 ¹⁶

“In the fast moving world of AI applications, Mercor stands out — growing 50% monthly, with tens of millions in revenue run rate, profitable, and led by three 21 year olds.”

— Victor Lazarte, X post announcing Benchmark’s Mercor investment, September 2024 ¹⁵

“After 2 great years at Benchmark, I’ve made the difficult decision to leave the firm in order to pursue a new adventure. Benchmark simply excels in the craft of early stage investing and forming deep partnerships with founders. I’ll always be grateful to have had the opportunity.”

— Victor Lazarte, X post, July 2025 ²

What Founders Say

Benchmark’s announcement of Lazarte’s appointment described him as “a go-to resource for some of the best founders of our generation, from Dylan of Figma, Pedro and Henrique of Brex, Alex at Scale, and Howie of Airtable,” noting that these founders “feel comfortable and supported in bringing Victor their biggest challenges and being vulnerable with him” ⁸.

No independently sourced founder testimonials about Victor Lazarte as an investor were found after dedicated searching. The Benchmark website testimonial above is firm marketing copy and should be treated accordingly. Lazarte’s relatively short tenure as a VC (two years at Benchmark) and his recent departure may account for the scarcity of publicly available founder quotes about his investor persona. His portfolio founders (HeyGen, Mercor, Decart) have not publicly commented on their experience working with him as an investor, beyond standard press release language.

Sources